As a junior reporter at City News Service in Los Angeles in the late 1970s, I was once assigned to cover a meeting of the group planning the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. I had grown up watching the Games on TV, and it was pretty cool to be at an Olympics organizing committee press conference. I had no way of knowing it, but that assignment was, to paraphrase “Casablanca,” the beginning of a great relationship. Ten years later I was reporter at the City Hall Bureau for the Toronto Star, covering Toronto’s bid for the 1996 Summer Games, which Read more
Beijing
London, New York City and Paris made the podium in the newest list of the world’s top cities. Resonance Consultancy, which has been analyzing world cities for 11 years, looked at everything from livability to education, parks and public transit to come up with its list, which I think is always one of the strongest in the biz. London came out on top (it has won the award 11 years in a row), followed by New York City and Paris. Toronto was the top winner in Canada, coming in at number 17, while Los Angeles was the top US city Read more
New research from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) reveals Paris as the world’s most powerful city destination. But the future belongs to China. The report, sponsored by Visa and researched in partnership with Oxford Economics, analyzed key indicators such as Travel & Tourism’s contribution to GDP, employment and traveller spend. The U.S. had three cities in the top 10: Orlando, New York and Las Vegas. China had three in the top 10: Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. COVID-19 had a devastating impact on Travel & Tourism and in particular major cities around the world as countries closed their borders Read more
The CBC says four First Nations, along with the municipalities of Vancouver and Whistler, have signed an agreement with the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic committees to start exploring the feasibility of hosting the 2030 Winter Games in British Columbia. The agreement, announced in a written statement on Tuesday, means officials from the Lil̓wat7úl (Líl̓wat), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations, along with the mayors of Vancouver and Whistler will work with the Olympic and Paralympic committees to assess the possibility of making a bid. There are few countries willing or able to make winter Olympic bids these days, which means Vancouver/Whistler Read more
A recently-formed Canadian tourism group is urging more open borders for intra-Canada and international travel. Meanwhile, MGM Resorts is opening more properties in Las Vegas. Monterey, California and Disneyland also are re-opening, as Air Transat will resume flights July 23. That and more in today’s Future of Travel post. CANADA TOURISM ROUNDTABLE WANTS MORE OPEN BORDERS The Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable* says Canada needs to get rid of its quarantine requirement for all international visitors and take more of a country-by-country approach. It also weants open provincial borders to save Canadian tourism for the summer. Here’s an open letter Read more
